It’s yachting season, or so we’re told, and a very large vessel is currently sitting in the Hudson at around 86th Street.

The yacht is called the Aviva, according to our yacht tipster, who goes by @ursus_actos59 on Twitter. It’s 98.4 meters, just shy of the length of a football field. But the yacht’s owner is apparently more interested in padel tennis, a kind of indoor tennis played with paddles. Padel tennis courts are generally 10 by 20 meters long, according to our padel tennis sources.

“Aviva is the third yacht of her name delivered to owner Joe Lewis, British businessman and major shareholder in Tottenham Hotspur Football Club,” according to Boat International. The site says it’s the 46th longest yacht in the world.

The tennis court is located in a lower section of the boat, so you can’t watch matches from your hum-drum landlocked apartment. Sorry plebeians!

In the mid 1960s, the Onasis yacht, The Christina, was “parked” in the middle of the Hudson around the mid west 70s. near the Boat basin. It was there for quite a bit.
It was said that Churchill was aboard

Churchill was already in declining health by 1963 when JFK declared him an honorary US Citizen. He’s essentially stopped traveling or leaving his home and suffered several strokes causing mental decline and physical disability. He was also mostly deaf by then. He died in 1965.
However, just as exciting, in 2016 during the presidential campaign, it was rumored that a Russian oligarch (possibly Deripaska)’s boat was anchored in the Hudson for several days. A huge black yacht with a matching helicopter on the rear deck.

98.4 meters is 107 yards. A football field (excluding end zones) is 100 yards. With end zones it is 120 yards. I guess he ran out of cash and couldn’t go longer than a full football field with end zones. I pity him.

Awesome that of all places in the world to park your yacht (Caribbean, Mediterranean, Canes, etc.) this owner chooses the Upper West Side! As a resident of the neighborhood for over 50 years, I do the same , , , whether it was a yacht or a row boat. Welcome to the neighborhood Aviva!
🙂